Ashley Kitchen, Ph.D., is the Senior Evaluation Specialist, Quality Improvement Lead with ACET, Inc. She started in March 2018 as a Research Associate. Ashley was the project lead for Ramsey County Parks & Recreation community engagement project for one of the county’s ice arenas. Ashley led the project for the duration from April to December 2022.
This project sought to engage with community members and stakeholders to gather feedback for facility use and programming. The results were used to help the County develop program plans for the arena site. Ashley’s role included facilitating and planning meetings, developing and drafting focus group scripts, engaging in recruitment efforts, data analysis, and report writing. This was a team collaboration between ACET and County staff, with each member of the team making important contributions to the overall project, including planning efforts, recruitment, facilitating focus groups, participating in community events, and analysis interpretation of the data collected.
ACET’s team facilitated nine focus groups, both in-person and virtual, attended a bingo event at church, a family night event at an area high school, and two events hosted by a local community organization. The team listened as participants/community members provided feedback for usage of the arena ranging from year-round community centered activities to other opportunities for community connection.
Thanks to Ashley and her team for finding creative and fun ways to engage with participants and community members whose feedback provided detailed, accurate results for the client.
